As we mentioned a few months ago, we are also working with Guinness in order to set a world record. This process is moving along as expected and we're adding to what will be the final record number with every gift posted to the gallery (so please post your gift).

In the past, we've helped organize and promote these various fundraisers with blog posts, ads, and coordination with some of the non-profits involved. The fact that these recent campaigns have been so successful and completely independently run by reddit communities makes them all the more impressive and exciting. We love that subreddits have taken the initiative to organize and promote fundraisers, blood drives, and other volunteering, not to mention all of the random acts of kindness subreddits.

The reddit community has now grown and evolved to a point where reddit Inc. is not necessarily needed for promotion and organization. However, we are committed to supporting the reddit community's charitable efforts in any way possible. So, we'd like to propose a question to you: what can we at reddit do to help fuel these type of fundraisers and other organic altruistic activity? How can we make subreddit campaigns more powerful, easier to manage, or easier to join?

On a tangentially related note, we'd like to thank all 90,000 plus of you who signed our Stop SOPA petition and took other action to help save the internet. This bill is an existential threat to reddit and the internet as we know it. Thanks for making your voices heard, and thanks for having our backs on this.

The studio is up in Novato, about 45 minutes away from reddit HQ, so 2K kindly sent someone to pick us up — in style. As redditors, we reserved the right to go a little "Socially Awkward Penguin" for the first few minutes of the ride, but eventually our excitement got the better of us.

2K Games treated us like Jarls — er, wrong game. Kings! They treated us like kings!

We got some hands-on time with the game, including a chance to try out some of the JUST announced coop campaign. It was tons of fun! Controlling two guns and two snake-arms simultaneous was a bit overwhelming at first, but quickly became a great romp. No pansy "hide in cover for a few seconds to regen your health" either — we had to feed on the hearts of our fallen enemies to stay alive. No pictures were allowed (pictures of screens wouldn't do it justice), but you can see the trailer video here. 2K Games also hooked us up with some limited edition "darkling" statues and other swag.

Finally, we got to chat up some of the dev and community team for the game over dinner. Topics ranged from character development and narrative to how to avoid taking an arrow to the knee.

Everyone had a great time, and I think we all came away intrigued about the game. If you want to know more about it, Elizabeth and Seth are running an IAMA right now (Full disclosure: 2K Games does advertise with us).

Friday, December 02, 2011

There are countless reasons to be cynical and pessimistic about the world these days, and even jaded about the "power of the internet" to make a real impact. But then there are stories like Lucas's that can inspire others and even renew our faith in the general awesomeness of people.

If you are not already familiar with the story, two days ago, ironyx posted in /r/assistance asking for help with his girlfriend's sister's son, whose family needed financial assistance to take their 3-year-old son, Lucas, to Duke University for an operation for a "1 in 1 million" immune system disease. Other subreddits including /r/trees & /r/atheism got behind the cause, and in less than 12 hours redditors raised over $30,000 and helped the family reach their fundraising goal! Lucas's dad (and soon to be proud owner of a reddit tattoo) did an IAMA last night, and said, "Thank you all again for your incredible kindness. I can't even begin to convey our gratitude."

But, reddit let's not stop there. There are other kids and adults who need bone marrow transplants, just like Lucas does. You can help by registering with National Marrow Donor Foundation at BeTheMatch.org and becoming a potential bone marrow donor. Register to be a Marrow Donor today.

Thank you, reddit, for rallying around this family's story, thank you mods for facilitating, and thank you, Lucas, for being a "gloriously radiant beam of light." When you are old enough, your reddit Platinum™ account will be waiting for you.